NBC threatens to sanction Ondo TV over “hate speech” directed at Fayose
Too much anti-Fayose speech will get the Ondo State Television Service sanctioned, the National Broadcasting Commission has said.
The commission said the station was broadcasting too much hate speech against the outgoing Ekiti State governor.
Director-General of the Commission, Ishaq Modibbo-Kawu told NAN that such behaviour was unacceptable, particularly in the lead up to the 2019 general elections.
Modibbo-Kawu said NBC needed to be “neutral and apolitical” in the discharge of its statutory duties.
“From the Ekiti election, one interesting thing played out: We discovered that in a neighbouring state, Ondo, a broadcast station there, the Ondo State Television Service, was broadcasting hate speech against Ekiti Governor, Ayodele Fayose,” Modibbo-Kawu said.
“For us in NBC, this is against the national broadcasting code and we are going to sanction that particular station.
“We do not pick and choose which station to sanction. We monitor all radio and TV broadcasting stations in the country and when you flout the code, you are going to be sanctioned.
“On a quarterly basis, we will bring out the list of those we had sanctioned and the reasons and post it on our website and distribute to media houses,” he added.
He said politicians – from the ruling party and opposition – were all guilty of hate speech, but the NBC will ensure that broadcasters respect regulatory code.
“Politicians tend to just say anything on air; they demonise the opponents, they profile them and say the most horrendous things,” he said.
“The political parties are not our licensees, so, we cannot hold them liable. However, the TV stations that broadcast the rally live have an obligation.
“We are issuing the report on the studies to the government, political parties and broadcast houses that if you broadcast live materials that flout the NBC code, you are going to be held liable.
“They have to get their acts together and begin to discuss with the people who come to pay heavy sums of money to do live broadcast, that there are certain things you cannot say,” the director-general explained.
Modibbo-Kawu recalled that in the build-up to the Ekiti election, the Commission sanctioned a couple of stations, especially the state-owned broadcast stations.
“When President Muhammadu Buhari visited the state, the governor (Fayose) made a broadcast that the people should not turn out to receive the president.
“This was beyond politics, so we sanctioned the station.
“Soon after the elections, before INEC announced the results, the state governor went to radio and television to begin to announce his own results.
“We felt that was the point we had to act and we closed another station.”
